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Vincent Kompany, Man City's totem who provided the foundation and the finish to this title charge

Pep Guardiola knew the value of Kompany in this race, but didn’t quite know just how spectacular it would play out on Monday

Miguel Delaney
Chief Football Writer
Tuesday 07 May 2019 07:09 BST
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Pep Guardiola: the distance Man City have in points from rivals is incredible

When Pep Guardiola was deciding on his team before the match against Leicester City, one of the main reasons he picked Vincent Kompany was because of the captain’s presence of mind.

The feeling was that his title-race experience would be all the more important amid the potential exasperation of a properly tense run-in game. Not even the Manchester City manager, however, could have predicted the manner that quality would manifest itself in this 1-0 win. This was a very different type of focus.

As the game was getting so fractious in that 70th minute, and the City players were getting so anxious, many were visibly imploring their captain not to shoot.

“I could really hear it, and it was annoying me,” Kompany said later. “And I thought, ‘hold on a second, I’ve not come this far in my career for young players to tell me when I can take a shot on.’ It’s 15 years of top-level football, of having midfielders tell me ‘don’t shoot, play the wide’. And every single time, I told them: ‘One day, I’m going to have a shot from outside the box, I’m going to score a goal, and you’re going to be really happy.”

And how. The Etihad probably hasn’t seen delirious happiness like this since May 2012.

That was when Kompany led City to their first league in 44 years, his match-winner against Manchester United ultimately setting up Sergio Aguero’s title-winner against QPR. This was a moment to rival even that.

It may not quite have been one in a million, but was Kompany’s first goal from outside the box in 37 attempts in 11 years, and thereby felt like the billion dollars invested in this club. It’s remarkable to think the Belgian was the only player in that matchday squad that preceded the 2008 Abu Dhabi take-over.

All of this further imbued a night of so much emotion at City with even more, especially if this is to be Kompany's last game, as some of the scenes suggested.

There was also what Guardiola admitted.

“We spoke with him and his agent. At the end of the season we are going to talk to him. He is an incredible human being and he help me a lot. Always I was said I could not use him a lot but this club is what it is because of people like Vincent.

“There are important players in this club, more than one century history and not a lot in the trophy cabinet but there are players who help us to be who were are today: Joe Hart. Pablo Zabaleta. Vincent Kompany. When he is fit he is an incredible centre-back. Not just for the goal. He is a leader many times. I am happy for him for the club, for many times.”

This was also why the goal might represent an even more fitting bookend. Kompany hasn’t just offered the finish here, but also the foundation.

Kompany's goal made the crucial difference

After another season where fitness has been such an issue, and he hadn't really been a primary player in the Premier League, the 33-year-old properly came back into the team on 27 February. That was another 1-0 win, this time over West Ham United, but was also fairly nerve.

City didn’t buckle, though. They kept one of what has become 10 clean sheets in this remarkable 13-game winning run.

It is surely not a coincidence that Kompany has made seven of his 16 appearances in that 13-game run, too.

He may not be physically able to play every game any more but, as Guardiola says, this is the standard Kompany sets for every player. His influence on that defence remains profound, even when he’s not in the team. They all look up to him. They all look to him for guidance on the more fundamental elements of defending.

There couldn’t have been a better example of that than in the eighth minute, when Kompany threw his body across the box to block a fearsome Ricardo Pereira drive.

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That should not be overlooked. It underpinned everything.

It is also all the more fitting, in a season when Virgil van Dijk has won PFA player of the year. For all the rightful talk that the Dutch centre-half has ensured a more old-fashioned defence-led title challenge from Liverpool, that is based on defence, the same can be said of City.

They have only conceded three goals in that 13-game winning run.

That become even more minimalist of late, with three 1-0 wins in the last four matches. You can't do that without having full faith in your defending. It is exactly as a centre-half like Kompany would want. It is also an old-fashioned form of defensive leadership, a line that Van Dijk has followed, and Kompany has been such a significant part of.

He has grown into one of the Premier League's greatest, up there with any of them, from John Terry to Rio Ferdinand.

Kompany will be remembered as one of City's greats

It is remarkable to think the Belgian arrived here on 22 August 2008, at what was effectively a completely different club. The takeover was just over a week away, but nobody knew it at the time. The first presentation for the sale was on 24 August. There then followed one of the most lavish periods of football expenditure ever seen, where City cycled through an astonishing number of players before finally finding a winning team.

Kompany jokes in ‘The Club’, a brilliant book on the business history of the Premier League by Joshua Robinson and Jon Clegg, that “you definitely got to meet a lot of people”.

And through all of them, the Belgian has remained. He’s been the steady presence. He’s been the totem.

Guardiola knew the value of that, especially in this race, but didn’t quite know what it would amount to on Monday.

It now looks likely to amount to another title. City lead the table, because Kompany led the way.

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